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Chapter 7 Josh and Zack

Josh was sitting on the couch in the living room at Xavier Estates when Zack came in. He sat down beside and took her magazine away, "Hey! I was reading that."

"All you do is read and tell me you have no life outside of this house. Well that's about to change."

"First off I do not tell you I have no life outside of this house. Second off what do you mean by change?"

"You'll see, go change and be ready in 15 minutes."

"Where we going?"

"You'll see."

15 minutes later Josh came down the stairs wearing a light pink tank top with the words 'Princess' across the front and a pair of black hip hugging jeans. Josh saw Zack at the bottom of the stairs waiting for her. They had been casually dating for about 5 months, but she had hoped for more. She had tried to get him to tell her about himself, no dice. It was hard to be in love with someone when you weren't sure they felt the same way.

Zack whistled, "Wow, you clean up nice, Princess."

"This old thing," she smiled. "Now where are we going?"

"Ok I'll give you a hint, it's where I took you on our first date."

"Madeline's Deli?"

"Yes, now can we go Princess?"

"Yes, we can."

They sat in their usual place in the deli and ordered their food and drinks. Zack spoke first, "Ok, ask me any 5 questions and I'll tell you whatever you want to know?"

"And you'll tell me the truth?"

"Of course, and I can't not answer one."

"This should be fun," she smiled.

"Well I know for certain that you've been trying to get me to open up, so this is me trying."

"All right, question one, 'What is your favorite movie?'

"Die Hard with Bruce Willis."

"I love that movie! One of my favorites too."

"Wow, never thought I'd date a chick who would say that."

"Well you do now, " smiled Josh. "Question two, favorite actor and actress?"

"Actor would be Mark Harmon and actress would be Kiera Knightly."

"Wow, we agree again. I love Mark Harmon on NCIS and I've loved Kiera since the first Pirates movie."

"She's gorgeous, but a great actress well, hard to find these days."

"Tell me about it," laughed Josh. "Question three, what's your favorite food?"

"Pizza."

"I love Pizza, I love every kind of pizza there is, even the stuff with the pineapple."

"My favorite is the taco pizza, they have it at Pizza Hut. They have a great buffet there at Pizza Hut. We should go there sometime."

"Maybe, we should go there for dinner."

"Good idea, great end to the day I have planned for you."

"Got my curiosity now, ok question four, who gets on your nerves the worst out of all the people we live with?"

"Zane."

"But he's your brother."

"And he told the woman I lo.." he stopped. "He told you that my nickname was Zacky!"

Josh giggled at the memory of Zane telling her about Zacky. "It's not as bad as my nickname."

"Which is?"

"And question five.."

"Uh-uh, fess up, what your nickname?"

"Doodle Bug."

Zack busted out laughing, "You win, that beats Zacky any day of the week."

"Shut up," laughed Josh. She couldn't even pretend to be mad at him. "Question five, do you love me?"

Zane's eyes went wide, "Wow, you get right to the point don't you?"

"Yes, I like to know where I stand with a guy before I give him my heart to break."

"I would never break your heart, on purpose anyway, but an answer to your question. Yes I do love you Josh."

Josh's heart did back flips, "I love you too, Zacky."

"All right, lets move on to our next adventure."

"Where we going?"

"The park."

"I love the park. Can we buy some bread to feed to the ducks?"

"Yes, we can."

"Come on."

Josh and Zack walked hand in hand through the park. They had spent about 20 minutes feeding the ducks and were now just strolling through the park admiring the scenery.

"Josh?"

"Yeah?"

"Want to sit down for a bit?"

"Sure, over there on the benches all right with you?"

"I was thinking, over here," he said pointing to a beautifully laid out picnic. "For you my princess."

"Zack, how did you do this?"

"Rosalie set it up while we walked."

"I'll thank her when we get back to Xavier Estates. It's beautiful."

"I got all your favorites," he smiled as he helped her sit down on the ground.

"This is so sweet, Zack."

"I just wanted to show you how much I love you."

"You could have just told me," laughed Josh. "Am I that unapproachable?"

"No, but in my mind, yes. I am so afraid that you will wake up in any minute now and see that I'm not who you think I am."

"Zack!" said Josh, "Sit down, I think you need to see yourself through my eyes."

He sat down next to her, "All right."

"I see a guy who is cute, smart and thoughtful. You're strong physically and mentally. When I was growing up, I used to get teased unmercifully about my "gift". You're the first guy who never judged me. You're my best friend," she said with tears rolling down her face.

Zack reached up and brushed the tears off her cheek, "You've got it wrong, and it's me who is lucky to have you. I have the rough exterior, I'm sure you noticed, " he smiled. "It hides; no, it protects me from getting hurt. Have I told you how I grew up?"

"No."

"It was something me and Zane have in common with Brennan I guess. My father was very abusive; he ended up putting Zane and me in the hospital so many times that I lost count. But beyond breaking bones, he also broke our spirits; at least until we found out we had an ability to conduct electricity. That night, we fought back. I came so close to killing him that night, but I stopped. Seeing the fear on his face was something I never wanted to see," he paused. "Weird huh, that I would stop after everything he had done to us."

"Zack, I'm so sorry you had to go through that and no it isn't weird that you stopped yourself from killing your father. It just proves that he didn't succeed in turning you into a monster, like him."

"You already knew all this didn't you?"

"No, I'm a precog, but I did know you were hiding something from me. I don't use my abilities with you. It's no fun knowing everything."

"Bummer was hoping I could get lottery numbers out of you."

"Just might, you never know," she joked.

They sat and continued to talk for about an hour and an half. Zack packed the baskets and they walked hand and hand back to his car. "You mind if we pick up a pizza to go at Pizza Hut?"

"Let's get a couple boxes for the others as well and no of course I don't mind."

"We can get plenty for the others and a sampler box for ourselves."

"Cool. Thanks for today."

"It isn't over yet."

"It isn't, what else is there to do?"

"You'll see."

Josh and Zack walked into Xavier Estates carrying 10 boxes of pizza. Everyone saw them coming in. Brennan was the first to say anything, "Food! You guys better be sharing."

"We are," laughed Josh. "You guys get the top 8 pizzas."

"Great! Shal cooked, and we're starving."

"You wouldn't be starving if you tried it," sneered Shal.

"I don't have a death wish, but thanks anyway Shal," smiled Brennan.

"You're welcome, jerk," joked Shal. "Did you two enjoy your date?"

"Yes, we did," smiled Josh.

"Good, I'm glad, you two deserved to get away from here for awhile."

"Thanks Shal."

"Oh yeah, Zack, I helped Lulu and Melodie set up your little surprise."

"Thanks."

"What surprise?" asked Josh.

"You'll see," said Zack as he tugged her hand. Still carrying their two pizzas' he headed to the roof of Xavier Estates. When they got to the roof, she saw a table set up with candles and wine.

"Wow."

"You like it?"

"Love it!"

"I know, a little classy for pizza, but hey, not everyday you get to watch the sun go down with a pretty lady."

"This is so romantic," smiled Josh as she kissed him gently on the lips. "I love you Zacky."

"I love you too Doodle Bug," he said smiling.

"I knew I should have never told you that," she laughed.

Ok, that was a fun chapter to write, I hope it was fun for you all to read. Right now, I'm just hoping my mom isn't the only one still reading this, lol. You are reading right mom? Mom? Where did you go?